Wartburg helps bridge the gap between living at home and living on your own
NAME: Sadie Short
CLASS YEAR: 2021
HOMETOWN: Dodge Center, Minnesota
MAJOR: English education
INVOVLEMENT ON CAMPUS: Symphonic Band, Dance Team, Pathways, Residential Assistant, and NSTA
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE WARTBURG: I was stuck between Wartburg and another school, so I flipped a coin, and this is the school I ended up with. I rolled the dice and went with it, but I’m so glad that I did. It ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I committed to Wartburg before I’d ever been on campus. When I was on campus for the first time, I remember it being warm and welcoming. My assumption was that college was going to be overwhelming and kind of scary but on my first day everyone I came across was so helpful and they each had smiles on their faces. It made me feel like I was at the right place.
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER GRADUATION: Teach at the middle school level in either Iowa or Minnesota.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE ENGLISH EDUCATION: I’ve always known that I loved English, and I’ve known that I wanted to be a teacher. I toggle back and forth between elementary and secondary English. I came in as an elementary education major and then switched partway through my freshman year. I knew where I wanted to be in four years, so it was just a matter of figuring out what age group I wanted to teach.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE CLASS: Biology of Ordinary Things with Dr. Bechtel. I took it during Winter Term of my freshman year, and I loved it. I’ve always been kind of a STEM nerd, so it was fun to get to take a class that doesn’t necessarily go in my major.
DO YOU HAVE ANY MENTORS ON CAMPUS: Dr. Bechtel has been so helpful to me over the years. I’m a weird in-between because I’m secondary education, so the program has the credits of a double major, with my English major and my secondary education major. It’s hard to find an adviser that really fills that role because I have an English professor as my main adviser, but I didn’t have anybody in the education department to go to. I asked him to sign on as my alternate adviser and he’s been very helpful.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WARTBURG MEMORY: Dancing with the dance team at football games. It was always fun, and I loved the excitement of the whole student body being together on Saturdays for football games. I also had an incredible experience going to Greece my freshman year.
TELL US MORE ABOUT GREECE: I went to Greece with the class Ancient Myths and Folklore, which I needed for my major. I went there for a couple weeks with Dr. Joyce Boss, and the class toured museums and traveled around all of Greece. The country is so gorgeous, and it was such a good opportunity. The application of classroom knowledge and the real-world experiences tied together well.
HOW DO YOU THINK THAT EXPERIENCE WILL HELP YOU IN YOUR FUTURE CLASSROOM: I’m always watching what professors do. Even in high school when I knew I wanted to be a teacher, I watched what my teachers were doing. I think going on the trip to Greece really solidified the fact that you need to connect what you’re learning to the real world. Students aren’t always going to care or have an incentive to put in the effort unless it connects to something that they’re interested in. I think this trip influenced me in how I want to carry forward teaching, but it also helped me in the classroom because it’s all about trust and collaboration with the people you go on a trip with. I learned to advocate for myself and be strong in my convictions about what’s important for me to learn and how I want to learn it. Going abroad and being on your own in a different country, I think, really gives you a sense of confidence, both in like control over your own education and how you interact with your fellow peers at college.
HOW HAS WARTBURG HELPED YOU SUCCEED: Wartburg gives students a lot of opportunities. The variety of choices that Wartburg has for student is incredible. You can study abroad and you can be involved in stuff outside of your major. Having those options starts to prepare you for the real world, where you have to make your own choices. Wartburg helps bridge the gap between your parents making your decisions, to where you are you making them with help, and then to the future when you’re going to have to make all those decisions on your own.
WHY IS WARTBURG WORTH IT: The people I have met here will be lifelong friends, people that have been study buddies for a semester, people that I work with for my on-campus job, connections with other friends that get me jobs outside of campus, there’s just no shortage of people there to help you in the ways that you need. Through that help from other people, you find yourself reaching out and trying to help the incoming freshmen or classmates. I think my time here has come full circle, where I see myself helping and inspiring others.